Tornadoes passed through Central Arkansas and Cross County on March 31, 2023 causing mass devastation and injuries. Pulaski and Cross counties have both been declared disaster areas by state and federal governments. Many are asking how they can help.

Below are links to several local nonprofits that will help the people in need most in the aftermath.

• American Red Cross Greater Arkansas chapter
• Salvation Army Arkansas/Oklahoma Division
• Arkansas United Methodist Disaster Response
• Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief
• Arkansas Division of Emergency Management Relief Fund
• Arkansas Food Bank
• Little Rock School District Cares
• Wolf Street Center
• Arkansas Disaster Relief Program
• Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Emergency Response
• Little Rock Cares Funds
• Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief
• Ferncliff
• Mental Health Services
• UADA – resources for small businesses

If you’re aware of nonprofit organizations such as churches, schools or other municipalities working to help, please contact Jessica Ford at jford@arcf.org or call 501-372-1116 to have them added to the list.

For donations to most state and federal agencies, you can designate your fund to the community/area you prefer.

Arkansas Community Foundation does not do direct programming or immediate relief work. Rather, we focus on long-term and intermediate recovery.

The Pine Bluff Area Community Foundation is one of the longest serving affiliates of Arkansas Community Foundation. And one of the most active. The affiliate’s 15-person board recently completed a rigorous strategic planning process and has begun putting their strategy into action.

“We want to broaden the awareness of the Foundation — not just for donors, but community leaders,” said Glenn Freeman, affiliate board member and longtime supporter of the Community Foundation. “If there is a group or person trying to do good work here, we want to know about it, and we want them to come to us so we can collaborate.”

Pine Bluff is not wealthy,” he said. “But there is tremendous opportunity and a chance for us to make an impact.”

Rebecca Pittillo leads the affiliate board as chair. “One of the most important things we can do is listen,” she said. “Community leaders must listen to the problems before they can offer solutions.”

The Pine Bluff Area affiliate is active in making grants through the lens of their strategic plan. Lawrence Fikes leads the affiliate as executive director. “For the first time, fiscal year 2022 saw the Pine Bluff affiliate grant over $100,000 to local nonprofits and in scholarships — and we’re on track to do the same in fiscal year 23,” he said. “Our board focuses on community development, family, education, health and food insecurity with our grantmaking.”

“We work hard to make it easier for nonprofits, especially through the Giving Tree grants.” Pittillo said. “We make the application process simple, and the turnaround time quick. That ease and speed yield higher impact.

“Our board is dedicated to the work we have before us,” said Pittillo. “I believe the future is bright for this organization and the Pine Bluff community.”

Financial advisor Robert Zunick of Hot Springs works directly with Arkansas Community Foundation to serve his clients’ charitable giving goals.

“The Community Foundation is just the best vehicle for my client’s charitable giving — especially for long-term impact. Establishing an endowment is the most efficient way to give in perpetuity,” Robert said.

“Early in my career as an investment broker, I had a client who was a good candidate for a permanent endowment fund,” he said. “A colleague suggested the Community Foundation and I’ve been working with them since.”

A founding member of the Hot Springs Area affiliate board, Zunick has more than three decades of experience providing financial advice to his clients, and almost that much time supporting local causes as a philanthropist in his own right.

“When the Hot Springs Area affiliate was formed in 1991, there was one endowment. Today, there are 117 funds, and several scholarships,” Robert explained. “I’ve enjoyed watching that growth and being part of helping nonprofits in this area.”

The Foundation accepts a variety of gifts so that clients can give back while Robert stays in control of the client relationship. Through the “Separately Managed” program, he can invest his client’s charitable dollars and retain the investment portfolio while they give through a fund with the Foundation.

“Whether my clients are looking to lighten their tax burden, shift financial resources during retirement, or create a legacy of giving, the Foundation makes it simple,” Robert said.

Arkansas Community Foundation recognizes professional advisors who refer clients for charitable giving in the “Golden Key Society.” Robert has been part of the Society for years. He “walks the talk” by not only referring clients, but also by holding his own fund at the Foundation. He and his wife Mary are members of a Hot Springs Giving Circle and support a variety of causes.

“Mary and I give each year to several Hot Springs nonprofits, but one of our greatest passions is the arts,” Zunick explained. “Sometimes the arts get put on the back burner. I believe we owe a debt to artists of the past, and the best way to keep the arts alive is to support artists of now.”

Robert encourages other financial advisors to listen and learn about the benefits of working with the Community Foundation. “The Foundation staff are so knowledgeable about local causes and ways to give,” Robert said. “They help my clients realize tax benefits, but also give them a vehicle for their charitable intent.”

Deborah Knox has a long history of community leadership and service to Mountain Home. As a founding member of the Twin Lakes Area affiliate twenty years ago, she has supported dozens of local causes by being a do-er, donor and door-opener.

“Growing up, I always had a sense that I wanted to make the world a better place,” Knox said. “Being on the board for the local affiliate has shown me the breadth of need here locally. Most people don’t know how deep the needs of people run in the Twin Lakes area—for example, the percentage of people suffering from food insecurity in Baxter County is almost 16%.

“But one benefit of living in a small community — you can see impact easier.”

The number of causes she’s worked with in 39 years as a resident of Mountain Home is vast. A former practicing attorney, she helped start the Baxter County Library Foundation and served as a justice of the peace. She currently sits on several boards including the Arkansas State Library Board, is a Rotarian, active in her church and now serves as a member of the newly formed homelessness taskforce.

“There are so many great organizations in this area working hard to make a difference,” she said. “Tom [her husband] and I have an endowment in memory of his three brothers that supports hospice. We have a Charitable Remainder Trust to be administered by Arkansas Community Foundation which will benefit our church and the Baxter County Library Foundation.”

Helping improve early childhood literacy is one of her passions — seen in her work to support the library in Baxter County.

“I helped start the Baxter County Library Foundation. We sought a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation for the purpose of building a new library facility. We received $10 million from Reynolds, but we also had to raise $2 million locally. I chaired the campaign to help raise those funds,” Knox recalled. “I had never raised money before like that. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and challenged me, but we got it.”

When asked what “community leadership” means, she said, “When you see a need, you can’t unsee it. You have to put your efforts into meeting that need. It can be alone, or with others, but you must find a way to help. The Community Foundation makes this easy. It is a great vehicle to connect those that want to help, with those who need it.

“Tom and I have two grandkids, Wally and Graeme,” she said. “I want to show them that it’s as fulfilling to give as it is to receive.”

Philanthropy Club is a group of individuals who gather each month to learn about the needs in the community and how various local nonprofits are uniquely equipped to address those needs. Unlike a “giving circle” which pools financial resources and makes contributions together, members of Philanthropy Club individually decide if and how they might support the organizations they visit.

Since Danyelle Musselman moved to Arkansas, she’s found herself in a new position. Not only as the first lady of Arkansas Razorback basketball but now in a position to give.

“I had a new problem all of a sudden, in that for the first time I really needed to get my charitable giving organized,” the head coach’s wife said. “I was introduced to the Foundation by attending Philanthropy Club where I met (Community Foundation VP) Jody (Dilday) and she broke it all down for me.”

Soon after, she and her husband Eric started the Muss Bus Charitable Fund through Arkansas Community Foundation. “The Foundation is my easy button! Nothing is too big or small. Through the Philanthropy Club, I have been exposed to so many good causes in this area,” Musselman said. “It is easy to stay caught up in one’s own bubble, but the Club has shown me new people, challenges and solutions that are happening here. For example, the work being done with the Marshallese community, the Samaritan Community Center and the Cancer Support Home — to name a few. We’ve seen dozens of organizations doing good work.”

When asked “What hits home?’’ She is quick to answer. “Organizations that support cancer patients and their families. My mother is a breast cancer survivor and both of her parents died of cancer when she was young. Many offshoots of the American Cancer Society are doing amazing work. One organization provides wigs for patients that have brown and black skin which are hard to find, so I loved supporting that.”

Musselman is spreading her philanthropic influence in other states, as well. “An unintended outcome of the Muss Bus Charitable Fund is that other coaches’ wives across the nation have seen what we’ve done and are starting to do it, too. We’ve connected these coaches’ families to their own local community foundation,” she said. “My instructions to Eric: win games! That keeps people drawn to what I’m doing and keeps the energy going. We also involve his players in local service projects.

“I hope we can continue to grow our giving here and keep learning about more causes,” Musselman remarked. “I’m not a native Arkansan, but it is amazing to see how people here rally around one another to help.”

The future of the Muss Bus Charitable Fund is bright — not only for Danyelle and her philanthropic interests, but the next generation of Musselmans, too. “My daughter, Mariah, is 12. She often goes with me to events and can see the needs that local nonprofits are working to fix,” Musselman said. “Hopefully by exposing her to these causes and modeling how one can give back, she will be inspired to do the same.”